>> Thursday, July 7, 2016

BAGUIO
CITY – Public works officials informed members of the city council that the
agency still needs at least P50 million in order to complete the long overdue
rehabilitation of the 3.8-kilometer City Camp Lagoon drain tunnel to prevent
perennial floodings in various barangays surrounding the inlet of the tunnel.

Appearing before recent session of the
city council, Rene Zarate, assistant district engineer of the Department of
Public works and Highways – Baguio City District Engineering Office, said the
proposed budget was included in the agency’s 2017 in order to fully complete
the uncompleted concreting works within the rehabilitated drain tunnel to
prevent the unnecessary obstruction in the smooth flow of water from the inlet
up to the Asin River.

The widened portion of the City Camp
Lagoon tunnel has a total length of at least 2.5 kilometers with a diameter of
2.5 meters coupled with the existence of ventilation areas that will allow
people to do regular maintenance works inside the tunnel, especially during the
rainy and typhoon seasons where debris are expected to impede the smooth flow
of water down to its outlet in Crystal Cave.

The City Camp Lagoon project was conceptualized
in 2010 with an initial funding of P50 million and it was given a regular
allocation up to the present making the total allocations for the project more
than P400 million excluding the proposed budget for the completion of the
project next year.

DPWH-BCDEO officials also denied the
insinuations of some city councillors that the project was sub-contracted by
the winning contractor as they claimed that it was the contractor who hired his
chosen mining engineer and architect for the project to help him in the
implementation of the programmed works aimed at addressing the perennial
flooding within the low-lying barangays within the City Camp area.

The council invited DPWH officials to
shed light on the various issues and concerns that were raised by concerned
sectors regarding the prolonged implementation of the City Camp Lagoon
rehabilitation project considering that there might have been a waste of public
funds.

Aside from the narrow portions of the
drain tunnel, the previous floodings in the City Camp barangays were due to the
huge volume of garbage that clogged the narrow portions of the tunnel causing
the slow draining of the water into its outlet in Crystal Cave.

The DPWH-BCDEO official also informed
the city councillors that the budget for the project this year which was
earmarked for the complete widening of the narrow portions of the tunnel will
be completed by August this year in time for the rainy season where there will
be a huge volume of water flowing into the tunnel coming from various parts of
Quezon Hill, Dominican Hill and other barangays along Naguilian road.

Part of the project was the installation
of screens along the waterways which are tributaries to the City Camp Lagoon
drain tunnel in order to prevent garbage from being washed down into the tunnel
that will contribute to the cloggings of the tunnel resulting to perennial
floodings in the affected barangays.